B&D - Vector Battery Charger False F03 error codes.

[OnaQuest]

I have owned three Vector 1097A chargers over the last eight years and they have all developed the same.... failure? Trait? They give false F03 errors. One I returned under warranty, one I threw away and the last one I still have.

Is there something that I'm doing wrong (abusing or misusing) with these chargers. Is it coincidence, just bad luck or what?

I can charge my riding mower battery with my old HF 10amp charger and it will charge okay, but if I then attach the 1097A it will read the battery voltage okay, and I can initiate a charge cycle, but it will run for a couple of seconds, step the charge rate down to zero and display the F03. It does this with any battery (in any state of charge) that I try.

Can these beasts be repaired, or do I just throw it away?

[Gdetrailer]

KJINTF wrote:
Please do not toss them in the trash

Yes they can very easily be repaired
Open it up and take a look close look at the large Capacitors
If any signs of anything abnormal replace the part
Parts available at DigiKey and typically less than $5.00

Replacing "caps" does not "fix" everything, the charger is falsely seeing/sensing a battery voltage higher than it should.

That error is most likely the "processor chip" and or other ICs in the unit and no amount of caps you throw at it will fix that. Seriously doubt that you are going to buy an off the shelf processor for that device.

These chargers super impose high frequency voltage spikes into the DC voltage of the output, chances are those same high frequency voltage spikes are causing the false high voltage detection.. The question becomes why and how. Chances are you would need an oscilloscope to view the waveforms and voltages but without any diagrams or notes on what you should see it is going to be a guessing game. It would take a lot of detective work to reverse engineer the how and whys of that device and even then the question of the possibility of a repair being successful is not assured.

Sometimes you can make a device so smart, it becomes dumb.

Those "smart chargers" are basically a throw away device, they are not built very robust nor designed to live a long life.

Chalk up another win for the old school tried and true "dumb" charger, they just plain work.

[3_tons]

After years of frustration I threw mine in the trash and my angst finally came to an end 🙂 !!

[bttremblay]

Hi I have one of those as well and it keep giving me FO3 code on any battery a try to charge. When you say to look at the large capacitor, do you mean a ciramic one or electrolytic one.

[bttremblay]

KJINTF wrote:
Please do not toss them in the trash

Yes they can very easily be repaired
Open it up and take a look close look at the large Capacitors
If any signs of anything abnormal replace the part
Parts available at DigiKey and typically less than $5.00

[mena661]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:



Dont'cha just love how they can take a simple charger and screw it up?

LOL!

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Dont'cha just love how they can take a simple charger and screw it up?

[tvman44]

I realize your problem is not intermittent, I only mentioned mine and hope it does not get consistent like yours. But that does seem to be a fairly common problem with these vectors and I hope someone finds a fix for it before mine dies like yours. I sure like that charger except for that problem. By the way the only time I have seen that error is on my lawn mower battery.

[OnaQuest]

tvman44 wrote:
I think F03 is "open cell or sulfated", mine does that occasionally on my lawn mower battery and I just start the charge cycle over and at a higher charge rate and everything is fine. I have 2 of these chargers and they both do that. Must be a characteristic of them. 🙂

Papa Bob, I wouldn't have even posted if my failure was intermittent. It is a solid failure that happens EVERY time, on many different batteries.

You are correct on what the error is supposed to indicate. I just don't know why it does it consistently on a perfectly good battery.

[tvman44]

I think F03 is "open cell or sulfated", mine does that occasionally on my lawn mower battery and I just start the charge cycle over and at a higher charge rate and everything is fine. I have 2 of these chargers and they both do that. Must be a characteristic of them. 🙂

[BFL13]

It FO3 means the charger is looking at voltage being too high, perhaps it would with a bad clamp or wire connection making R high? So I wonder if a clamp is loose or its wire part broken inside the insulation or whatever, if it would do that? Can you get a voltage across the clamps with the charger on not connected? Don't think I have tried that, so not sure.

EDIT- No joy across clamps. Got FO2 when just on the meter's leads, voltage was 0.6v

[OnaQuest]

KJINTF wrote:
Please do not toss them in the trash

Yes they can very easily be repaired
Open it up and take a look close look at the large Capacitors
If any signs of anything abnormal replace the part
Parts available at DigiKey and typically less than $5.00

Just saw your reply. I've never tried to take one apart, but it sounds like a good project for these last few weeks of winter.

[OnaQuest]

BFL13 wrote:
Could try and fool it back to being normal. Start it and then clamp on? When on and showing F03, change amp settings up and down and turn on and off, change battery type.

Sometimes with the old 27DCs after they were FUL and I wanted to do more, I would get an F03 but not if I just used the 2 amp setting and not the higher settings. Once it started ok in 2 I could then ramp it up. Seems like F03 is for almost anything, not just for what it is listed for. Weird.

I had to chuckle at that, because that's exactly what I just did (and felt kinda silly doing it) with no good results.

I wish I had all the other old 1097s here to see if they all still would act exactly the same way under all tests, but I don't. I think I remember some (one) of the others as being intermittent in the beginning, before failing solid.

I was just hoping someone here had a ready answer on a repair or mod that would make this charger useful again.

Thanks for the replies anyway.

[BFL13]

Could try and fool it back to being normal. Start it and then clamp on? When on and showing F03, change amp settings up and down and turn on and off, change battery type.

Sometimes with the old 27DCs after they were FUL and I wanted to do more, I would get an F03 but not if I just used the 2 amp setting and not the higher settings. Once it started ok in 2 I could then ramp it up. Seems like F03 is for almost anything, not just for what it is listed for. Weird.

[OnaQuest]

I don't have a lessor charged battery to test with right now, but will crank the mower a few times (with the kill switch on) and see if I can get the battery down a few tenths.

EDIT - I just cranked the mower starter until the battery read 10.4V, and started the 1097. It did it's F03 thing......